Vacays & Staycays

(7/3) Lazy day for the boys and me. Dad and Rob went out to try and pull a transmission from pick and pull, but were ultimately not successful. C and I ran out for Slurpees as a consolation prize though. C made garlic shrimp risotto tonight and it was delish! And Dad made a strawberry pie for tomorrow's dessert.

(7/4) Happy Fourth! Dad had to work today and it was too dry for fireworks but we made the most of the day. C learned to grill and did a great job. Dad also got the kids some pop-its which they blew through after dinner. There were still enough fireworks in our area to enjoy from our lawn. We took turns sitting with Noodle inside and watching the show outside. The other dogs were a little stressy, but not too bad.

(7/5) I had the day off today and didn't do a whole lot. I made the kids strawberry shakes for dessert tonight. J went out and picked blueberries, raspberries, and honeyberries to add to his too. All the fruit is ready so early this year.

(7/6) Oh heyyyyy, a meetingless Meeting Tuesday! Well, I did have one, but that wasn't until the afternoon. A girl can get used to this! The boys all played video games and melted their brains. I saw them at dinner time, and then they were off doing their own things.

(7/7) I had the day off today. It was cool and overcast this morning, and that combined with a book put me right to sleep. I ran errands this afternoon and then came back home to continue doing a whole lot of nothing. 

(7/8) Happy birthday, C! 14 today 😳. We ordered teriyaki for lunch, and I went and grabbed Polar Pizzas from B&R for dessert. C is very much the teen and just wanted money for his bday. 

(7/9) Work day for me and day off for everyone else. The day seemed to crawl, but we made it. Now, on to the weekend! No party nor fanfare. I kinda miss the Chuck E Cheese days. 

(7/10) Lazy day for all of us today. I think I took three naps today. Apparently I was tired. About all I did was trim the "salad bar" that is the back yard and read my book. 

(7/11) The boys and I had a pretty lazy day again today. We bummed around the house for the day but got bored and went to the spray park after dinner. We decided on strawberry floats for dessert ~ a perfect summer treat! 

(7/12) Work day for us parentals, and the boys had the day to video game their brains away. C and I cooked dinner this evening, which was southwest themed, but since it was a rice bowl, D put soy sauce on it anyway. Goofball. 

(7/13) "Work" day for me. I had lots of meetings as usual this morning, and my afternoon was booked for our Summer Social. I called for DoorDash sushi (which the boys helped me eat) and had a bevy with my work peeps while playing virtual trivia. My team answered every question correctly and ended up in a three-way tie for first. We placed second after a pretty obscure tie-breaker question. Aw well.  

(7/14) I had the day off today and slept in until 7:30a. I got up, had coffee with the pups, and read my book. J asked if I wanted to go to the park this afternoon, so he biked while I walked down, hitting all three neighborhood parks. I made waffles for dinner with berries from our bushes which are absolutely exploding right now. And then I took a heavy hand to the raspberry bushes and thinned them considerably.

(7/15) Work day for me, and Dad is off on vacation. Poor S had her flight cancelled and was unable to get on another until tomorrow morning so got to live at the airport for several hours. She'll be staying with our furry monsters while we're off on vacation. 

(7/16) I worked until noon today. Dad went to collect S from the airport after plane hopping this morning. We hit the road and made it to our Airbnb in plenty of time for dinner and hot tubbing! Our Airbnb is gorgeous! We're staying at the Columbia's Edge, which has a beautiful view of the Columbia. They provided us with fresh cookies and homemade bread. Yum!

(7/17) We made breakfast at our Airbnb and then took the boys to the gem shop in Vantage. D picked out a dream catcher and J a soap stone jar in which to store his treasures. We headed out to Wenatchee and met up with Opa at Alma's for lunch. We decided to come back to our Airbnb with Opa to hang out and visit for a while. And of course we topped off the evening with hot tubbing and star gazing.

(7/18) Today's adventures included breakfast at the Big Y, touristing through Leavenworth, a brief stop at Wenatchee State Park, a visit to the knife shop for C, then on to the river, a stop for taffy, another for for Aplets and Cotlets, and then back to our Airbnb.

(7/19) Home again jiggity jog. We were out the door by 8a today. When we're ready to go, we go. We got home mid morning, got unpacked, did laundry, and shopped for our next trip. We visited with S and were mobbed by the pups. 

(7/20) Today begins leg two of our vacation. We headed to Ocean Shores, where we're staying in an Airbnb near the beach. We arrived early and killed some time on the beach. It was a beautiful afternoon! After our fun on the beach, we drove to the condo, got settled, had dinner and bummed around for the evening. 

(7/21) Dad woke up at the crack of dawn and went out to Damon Point to go rock hounding. He walked and walked and walked and then returned with donuts. We took the boys to Pacific Paradise for some arcade fun. It was really loud and J didn't want to play anything, but he did happily swap out all the tickets won for some candy. We went from there to lunch at Double Barrel BBQ and had some great grub. We came back to our Airbnb for a bit and then hit the beach. We went out along the jetty and got to check out all the tide pools. J was really excited to dig a mine and/or build a fortress, but was done with that idea in about 30 mins. We headed back to the condo for dinner, and Dad and I slipped out to run back to the beach to watch the sun set. 

(7/22) We had a lazy morning at the condo. I took a walk and discovered a nature trail. I saw a pair of otters playing in the pond and a buck on the trail. After lunch we headed for Pacific Beach and met up with the cousins. The kiddos played and played and went off swearing to each other ~ as one thinks is cool at that age? D and D are peas in a pod for sure. We all got a lil roasty-toasty around the edges, but it was a lovely day. We took home some very sandy, wet boys to the condo for baths while Dad grabbed us some fish & chips from Bennett's. Nom, nom, nom! 

(7/23) Blerg. We were awakened by a very loud bird raising a ruckus this morning at 5am. Dad couldn't go back to sleep so was up getting us all packed to hit the road back home. We were out of there early, as is tradition, and made it back home before noon. The puppies were so happy to see us! I ordered a baby gate since Miss Thang keeps chewing through her leash. But now we have to puppy proof the entire downstairs. This should be fun. S decided to go hang with a friend and ended up going home from there. It was good to see her! 

(7/24) I've missed my walking buddy! Sarah and I arranged to walk this morning, and even though we've been apart, we still managed to run out of things to talk about. Other than that, we had a normal catching up with life kind of day. Grocery store run, unpacking, garden tidying, etc. Nothing too exciting. It's good to be home! 

(7/25) Sarah and I went walking this morning. I saw her a few hours later when J and I went out to her parents' house to get a run-down on caring for their animals while they're away. J mainly wanted to go so he could climb trees, and said he'll be awake at 6am when I trek over there to feed next week. We stopped for some sushi for lunch, and then came home to hang. After dinner, the twins and I went down to the lake so they could play on the swings. 

(7/26) Back to the grind for me today. Always fun catching up on everything when you've been out for a week! Dad also had to work, so the boys were left to their devices. The boys played outside after dinner and I watched the Olympics and/or read until Dad got home. We're slowly catching up on our shows that we missed last week. 

(7/27) Weeee, Meeting Tuesday. Busy, busy, busy today, which is good, but exhausting. The twins and I I went down to the parks after dinner. We hit the two on the way to the lake, played at the lake, then came on home. 

(7/28) I had the day off today but still got up early to go walking with Sarah. D had a doctor's appointment this morning and I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. Do I know how to have fun on my day off or what? Dad took C in for a haircut. He got most of his curls lopped off and looks great. The twins and I trekked down to the lake this evening. It was beautiful but hot out. The twins whined the whole way there and back that they had forgotten water bottles. I offered them my iced coffee but didn't get any takers.

(7/29) Today is our 20th anniversary and being the terrible romantics that we are, I ordered him a spice rack and spent the day working. We'll go out and celebrate after Dad is feeling better. He's been dealing with a dental issue this week. So not fun. I am taking care of Sarah's mom's animals this week, and J wanted to come with me even though I went out to feed at 6am. It was a beautiful morning for a tree climb! 

(7/30) I had to work today, and thankfully it was a quiet because I had a ton of work to complete. Dad made a delicious steak dinner tonight with fancy herbed butter. That recipe is definitely a keeper! The twins and I went down to the lake after dinner for some playtime, and then Dad and I enjoyed our shows after they went to bed. 

(7/31) I met up with Nanan for birthday coffee turned lunch this morning. We had a lovely visit. Dad and I ran errands for the first part of the day, and used the second half to chillax and watch the Olympics. I love watching dressage ~ makes me miss riding! 

(8/1) It's my birthday today, and the boys and I hopped a ferry to go visit the grands. J was absolutely starving on the way (maybe because he didn't eat breakfast even though he was given multiple opportunities/suggestions to do just that?). In any case, I warned the grands he was coming in hot. He made a beeline for the chips, and slowed only slightly after two plates of nachos and beans. For coffee cake. He was then hungry about twenty minutes later. I think he might be growing or has a hollow leg. We had a very fun day and played lots of Dr. Mario and MarioKart. I kicked some bootie in the former and got my butt kicked in the latter. D told Granddad and me that we need to practice. Thanks, D. We were so busy playing this evening, I didn't realize how late it had gotten. So we were on a ferry after 10p. Thankfully Dad was able to scoot out and feed the puppies for us.  

(8/2) Ugh, Dad was woken up at 4a to run into work when he was just off at midnight. He stopped and brought us donuts, and we tried to go back to being quiet while he slept. J and I ran out to feed the animals. It's been smoky/hazy, which makes for some pretty but ominous looking sunrises. I had to work today and it was my goal to get all caught up from having been gone a week and get my sales in. I put in a couple extra hours and got 'er done tonight. 

(8/3) I chased the sunrise this morning to find the perfect picture spot, and then sped down the hill to feed the animals. Dad took the day off and I had a busy day of meetings at work. Our office is moving tomorrow, but we all feel like there's still a long way to go before we can officially have a "welcome back" party. The numbers are looking bad again.  

(8/4) I had the day off, so slept in a little before J & I headed out to feed the animals. It was a beautiful morning and the hot air balloons were out. Dad went shopping and bought new drinking glasses, and while he was out, I rearranged the kitchen cabinets and got a donation box going. He brought me a new glass vase, so I was forced to go plant shopping. I ended up hitting the sad rack at Lowe's and scored a bunch of new plants at 50% off, most of which just needed a good long drink. I also found a Venus fly trap ~ hope I can keep it alive! Once I got home, I planted everything and tidied the yard. I love it! 

(8/5) Yay, my walking buddy is back! And it rained! I have never been so happy to walk in the rain. We even went for coffee. Then I had to come home and work, but it was a nice way to kick off the day. 

(8/6) Work day for me. Dad had a root canal (bah!) this morning. He came home feeling pretty okay, though he'll be sore for the next few days. We had a pretty chill day at home and capped off the evening with wine and trash TV. 

(8/7) We had a fun date day today! We grabbed sushi and then headed out to Woodinville to go wine tasting. We joined a new winery, and now both of us have memberships and a reason to go to Woodinville. We went for dinner at Anthony's to belatedly celebrate our twentieth anniversary.

(8/8) Sarah and I went walking this morning, and then I came home to my book and coffee. We bummed around for the morning until Nanan came. She has been wanting some lavender plants, and you know me, I am always up for a trip to the plant store! We shopped the sale rack, then we found the aisle totally dedicated to lavender. We both filled our carts and then had to figure out how to tetris everything into the car. We came back to my house and I transferred her purchases to her car, and then she came in to hang with the boys. She stayed for dinner, after which I drove us to the park to play since it's a bit of a hike). It was a lovely evening!

(8/9) Monday, Monday... I so did not want to work today. My brain is mush. It's supposed to get hot out this week again. In the 90's--not the 100's--thankfully. But still. 

(8/10) Meeting Tuesday was packed. I have lots of projects again which is great. We talked about the rising covid numbers today and are back to a holding pattern again. I grudgingly filled out online school paperwork for the twins. I so didn't want to do this again. But hopefully by midwinter they can go back? Sigh. 

(8/11) I had the day off, and the boys and I packed a picnic to take to Nanan's beach. We met at her house, and I helped her plant everything we bought the other day, and then we piled back in the car and headed for the beach. Her beach has a house with swings beneath, and the boys had a great time playing while we gabbed in the shade. The owner of the home even brought us popsicles because it was so hot out. So thoughtful! The twins went swimming and the rest of us poked around the rocks. It was a very fun way to spend a hot day! 

(8/12) Work day for me and a day off for all my men. We cooled the house off the best we could before it ramped up again today with the fun addition of smoke too. I took all my meetings from a dark wind tunnel with all the fans going. I saw a video where someone used those Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the waffle maker, so we tried that out tonight using orange rolls and had breakfast for dinner. They turned out great! 

(8/13) Sarah and I went for coffee this morning because it was needed. It's gonna be another hot one today, so I made crock pot lasagna which we smelled all day. Dad and I caved and had dinner early. The air quality was a little better, so at least we could have the windows open this evening.

(8/14) I saw in my memories that Oodles of Noodle's birthday was today, so the requisite birthday cookie was purchased and distributed. He's 4 today. While Dad was out running errands, I spent some quality time with my book. I just finished Summer Island by Kristin Hannah and it was so good except someone was definitely cutting onions for that last bit. Dang. Other than that, Dad and I watched our fave comic's podcast and finished some trash TV. 

(8/15) We had a pretty chill day today. I went walking with Sarah this morning. It has cooled a little and the air is clearing out, which made it so much nicer. Dad and I ran errands before he headed off to work. He's been shifted to 2p-midnight this week, so we don't see him again after he heads out. Blah. The twins requested a trip to Forest Park after dinner. They ran and ran and ran, and then sniped at each other for the rest of the evening. Fun times! 

(8/16) Happy Monday! It's a work day for Dad and me. The boys have long since lost track of what day it is. C asked what time I got off work yesterday. It's much cooler today--I almost need a sweatshirt. I'm hoping we'll get some rain this evening. It's been too long.